15 Technologies Bringing Innovation To The Enterprise

Tech companies from the Bay Area to Tel Aviv are busily—and sometimes stealthily—changing every aspect of the enterprise, from operations and IT to communications and marketing. While these companies’ innovations don’t get as much attention as those of their consumer-focused peers, the B2B disruptors have just as big an impact on their target audience. Additionally, they belong to a market just as flush with funding. Below are 15 technologies bringing innovation to the enterprise. (Please note, that this is my own research and findings as a strategist, CEO, and Forbes contributor; and not an official Forbes list.)

Video may be the future of online advertising – this year U.S.marketers are projected to spend almost $10 billion on video ads. Video advertising is a complex market, though, and there are a

dizzying number of formats and devices to contend with. Brands (and publishers) are faced with the task of serving videos across all screens in a way that attracts viewers’ attention and clicks. Cedato’s video ad platform automates “cross-screen” delivery, targets viewers with the right ads, and measures the results so advertisers can simplify, optimize and track revenue of their video advertising. The company, which is a year old, recently launched a private video ad marketplace as well.

ControlUp is the tool IT systems administrators had been pining for. It’s a SaaS platform that allows them to control every aspect of their company’s IT infrastructure from a single dashboard. ControlUp has received good reviews from professionals ever since it launched. Recently, the company released an insights product, which provides collective analytics to its customers, sharing the wisdom of the crowd on how to avoid IT errors and cut costs. Today, over 500 companies are using ControlUp to manage their IT systems efficiently and easily.

DigitalGenius is an artificial intelligence platform that serves as a first line of defense for customer service. After a company signs up with DigitalGenius, it feeds the software reams of real chat dialogues between customers and customer service agents. The software learns how to field common queries: Is my flight on time? What address should I ship a return to? It can even take on more complex questions: Is it OK if I’m one pound over the luggage weight allowance? It assigns a confidence index to every answer and clients decide what level of confidence is needed to automate the answer. The result is that human agents can spend their time dealing with the complicated stuff while DigitalGenius take cares of the rest.

Duda has taken code-free web design to the next level. Plug an old site into Duda and you get a redesigned, modern site within minutes. Enter a web address into Duda Mobile and out comes a new version of the site, specifically designed for mobile devices. Or, design a personalized and responsive site from scratch. The sites are fully featured and are robust enough to handle a complete e-commerce store. For companies that need to push out multiple sites, or frequent additional features, on a recurring basis, Duda may be their gift from heaven.

The cost of continuing education for promising executives is daunting: high tuition, lost labor, and the headache of replacing or supplementing a skilled leader. ExecOnline tries to ease the pain. In partnership with elite business schools—think Columbia, MIT Sloan, and Yale—ExecOnline offers certificate-granting courses online that can be completed right from your office or home. Companies save money and employees get first-rate education without disrupting their lives and careers.
T-Mobile,
HP, and Visa are a few of the companies that have signed on.

One of the greatest challenges facing enterprises is getting their target customers or users to engage. Livefyre has created a series of products to do just that – i.e. enable you to tell your brand story and capture the attention of your various audiences. Livefyre is probably most famous for its social comments widget, but has a full set of tools that are focused around helping companies create user generated content that builds community, provides credibility and drives customer conversations. The company has struck a chord – it raised $67 million in venture funding, and was acquired by Adobe last month.

In today's digital environment, enterprises must be sophisticated in the way they advertise to users, onboard and monetize them, as well as analyze retention and results. Few companies have been able to incorporate all of these elements under a single roof. Enter Perion, an Israeli software powerhouse offering customers a full suite of technology and services to acquire, monetize and retain users. From its legacy products CodeFuel and Growmobile, which offer content monetization and marketing automation, respectively, to the company's recent purchase of creative digital ad firm Undertone for $180 million, Perion keeps expanding -- bringing synergy between its offerings and to its customers.